20years after Resolution 598

Today is the anniversary of Iran's acceptance of resolution 598 of the UN Security Council. The resolution was passed a year before  on 20 June 1987 and on 7 August 1988 cease-fire between Iran and Iraq was declared by the Security Council.

Islamic Republic of Iran rejected all UN resolutions during the 7 years prior to that time due to the fact that they all lacked two elements: Recognition of Iraq as the intruder and payment of reparations to the victim.

Resolution 598 included new items in response to Iran's concern and could become the basis for negotiations. Article 6 requested the secretary general to authorize a non-partisan committee to investigate to find and identify the party responsible for beginning the war.

 In a report to the U.N. security council toward the end of his tenure as General Secretary, Javier Perez de Cuellar, identified Iraq as the responsible party .

Claiming war reparations is the natural right of governments' under international law.

According to that report, claiming reparations is Iran's definite right which has been prevented until now and since having good relations with the new government of Iraq is a priority, this issue might continue to remain .

According to article 7, the secretary general was supposed to find appropriate ways to lead the international community in the re-construction process and report to Security Council.

Mr. Abdorrahman Farah was sent to Iran as the secretary general's representative and handed his report on war damages to him.

The point here is that Abi Farah's mission was to execute article 7 of the resolution and Iran was to pursue the reparations  issue separately from his report. The report solely focused on reconstruction of the two countries using international aid and had nothing to do with identification of the party responsible for starting the war.

The report was handed to the Secretary General and the Security Council but was never followed up on. One reason probably was that Iran was alone in the international community and the western world had no intention of helping Iran get out of solitude and consequently showed no interest in the reconstruction process. However, this issue could be pursued.

I am of the opinion that Iran's right to claim damages always remains intact. In the current situation we have a good chance to pursue article 8 of the resolution for at the time the resolution was passed with the presence of Saddam Hussein and Bath party in the region, it seemed impossible to enforce regional security in the Persian Gulf and bring Iran, Iraq and southern Emirates together by means of international law or a political agreement.

In spite of the existing misunderstandings in the current political atmosphere that have created an unfavorable prospect, with a bit of patience and wisdom, clouds of mistrust could be driven away and article 8 of resolution 598 can be used as base for better relations and sustainable agreements.